i asked this last year when i bought my 7 mag but i'll run it by again this year. i have a remington 700 xcr in 338wm coming that i plan to use mostly for elk hunting with anticipate ranges out to plus or minus 400yds. how important is break in and how should i go about it? this gun does have a ss barrel.

Here is one technique;

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/...sigb=151tjcl7g

Here is another;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjbnYm_HmXg



Now you decide...................after all, it's your gun.

Some say screw it, just go shoot. Others follow various regimens such as those already posted. All I have ever done is clean well first, shoot a few while letting barrel cool in between, shoot some more, etc. I then give a good cleaning when I get home. Repeat as necessary.

With a new rifle I like to clean it thoroughly, then shoot a 3 round group, clean the bore and let it cool, another 3 round group, clean the bore and let it cool, and then shoot a few more 3 round groups with time to cool in between, but no cleaning. It should now be perfectly sighted in, and when I get home I give it a light cleaning and leave a bit of G96 in the bore. I've always gone this route and have been happy with my rifle's accuracy.

"its your gun and you can do what you want" But if it were me I would follow a break in procedure. IMO a standard production gun does not have the polished bore as a more expensive custom rifle with a premium barrel. These barrels have minute tears in the bore/rifling from the manf process. Breaking in a barrel does not improve accuracy of the barrel directly. A bad barrel will not shoot well period. What a break in does do is "polish" these tiny imperfections (maybe lapping would be a better term). The reason you want to remove them is to reduce the amount of fouling that the barrel will collect from the bullets traveling down the bore. Less fouling (normally copper build up) means better accuracy.
My process is to clean the bore thoroughly prior to shooting. Then clean after every shot for 10 shots. Then clean again after every 3 shots for the next ten 3 shot strings. That should be sufficient and has worked for me. Out of my hunting rifles I never shoot more than 10 shots without cleaning.
Oh yeah another plus to breaking in a bore is that clean up is usually easier as the bore doesn't hold as much fouling. And the fouling that it does have has nothing to hold on to and is removed easily.

REALLY NOTHIN BETTER THEN SHOOIN THE SNOT OUT OF IT CLEAN ,SHOOT 3 more , good to go! sorry bout yellin!If anit shootin good after that its broke ! lol

That's my method.

You are more likely to mess up the barrel pushing a cleaning rod through it than not. I used to do the break in routine but could find no difference than just shooting it and cleaning when I get home. Now I shoot until accuracy goes away and then clean. I have also gone to foaming cleaners to reduce the rod use in the barrel. All that said do what is comfortable for you.

I'm with the last several posts on this one!!!